Biofouling, boring and predation of pearl oyster

Abstract

During the course of the experiments in pearl culture
since 1972 in the Gulf of Mannar, several problems
were encoimtered in the farm due to biofouling, boring
and predation of oyster stocks. An account of fouling
and boring organisms in the farm at Veppalodai was
given by Alagarswami and Chellam (1976). Nishii
(1961) and Nishii et al. (1961) indicated some relationship
between the frequency of cleaning and growth
of pearls in the Japanese waters. Wada (1973) reported
that animals and seaweeds setting on the oysters and
baskets inhibited the growth not only of the oysters
but also of the pearls. The occurrence of polychaete
and sponge borers on the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata
and their control measures were given by Velayudhan
(1983).